I hope everyone had a nice Valentine’s Day and received many heartfelt good wishes, tokens of love, and similar garbage. Continuing my tradition of being a day late and a dollar short, I’d like to share some words about that special day. Some time back, I wondered why a heart
I recently picked up my latest prescription medication. It was ensconced in a tiny bottle with about three-and-a-half pounds of paper attached with all types of warnings about side effects. Some years back right here in The Voice, I noted that 30-second prescription medication ads on television, or scrolling across
I have a confession to make: I nearly killed my eighth grade nun. To many of you readers who grew up attending a Catholic school, this probably doesn’t sound so bad because, just like me, you’d assumed they were trying to kill us. But this was not a preemptive strike
America seems to have an abundance of angry individuals these days. I’m not one of them, except when my cable cuts out during The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. But, I’ve noticed infusions of anger when it comes to politics or driving. It would be nice if it stayed in
Because I was writing about pets (last time, I mean) I thought I’d continue. Humankind is finally learning about animal intelligence and behavior. In the past, animals were generally thought of as something dumb, disposable, targets for hunters, creatures in the way of progress. How could we build large environment-polluting,
It’s come to my attention recently that, in spite of my best efforts, I keep getting older. So far, it hasn’t been a problem. What is a problem is a tangential effect of aging that does hamper me from time to time: My brain is turning to mush. It doesn’t
If you read my written ramblings here a couple of weeks ago, the last time I rambled, I wrote that my wife had prepared a list of things that needed to be done around our house and property. Clearing out my boxes of valuable treasures, junk according to her, I
As societies develop, languages evolve. Researchers analyzed Stone Age and modern skulls. Different jaw placements allow our mouths to make different sounds. With a database of 2,000 languages, out of the 8,000 languages in existence today, sounds were identified that showed frequently used sounds and where. “New sounds are introduced
I’m giving you a heads up before you read any further. I’m somewhat impaired physically this time, rather than my standard mental impairment. While doing some yard work the other day, I ran over my glasses with the lawnmower, which made them unsuitable for seeing through, mainly because they are
Numbers, numbers everywhere. I remember the old days when there were just a few numbers: A three, one, a couple of sevens. Of course, since Old Testament days, there’s been the dreaded 666 hanging over, or worse, possibly on our heads, appearing as a birthmark on a random scalp. But
Spring finally has sprung…somewhere. That’s how I started last time, but it seems the appropriate way to begin again I sit here and wait for a massive amount of snow to be dumped on us in the next few hours. Whatever happened to March coming in like a lion and
Spring finally has sprung…somewhere. Trees are budding and flowers are blooming. The animals in Al Demeter Park next to the Santori Public Library of Aurora have come out of hibernation and are emerging from their dens just in time to get a load of wet, heavy, snow dumped on them.
I hope everyone has been following Chas Coddington’s column in The Voice. It alternates an appearance in this space every week with mine because, for me, it takes that long to get anything coherent out of my head and on to the page. The Chas has been writing about his
As I sit here composing this piece, at this very moment, no, that moment is past, at this very moment, no, that one is past now. These moments go by too quickly to latch on to one. Anyway, I’m psyching myself up for another kidney stone surgery, which will be
I’ve had enough of cold February, Febrero in Spanish, and Xp$qt*Z in Klingon, and I’m glad it’s finally gone. But if your birthday is in February, you may not feel the same. Those with a February birthday were born under the two zodiac signs, Aquarius and Pisces, or the all-encompassing
Did we all enjoy the arctic blast that descended on us last week? Of course not. It’s never fun to have icicles dangling off your frostbitten nose, or Inuit tribes traipsing through your backyard hunting polar bears. But it was the perfect opportunity for our Bonehead-in-Chief, on the advice from
If you have read my columns on a regular basis, you obviously have too much time on your hands. Nonetheless (I like it when I have a chance to use “nonetheless”), I endeavor to make my column educational so you readers will feel you won’t have wasted the valuable excess
By the time you read this, the presents under the tree all will have been unwrapped and returned from whence they came, credit card statements the length of War and Peace are in the mail, and veins and arteries are gasping for air, clogged with cholesterol from absorbing gallons of
For this week, I thought I might post some interesting (to me anyway), true facts I’ve gleaned from sources around the world and up your block. Feel free to use any of these facts to make you look smarter and better informed than the average troglodyte. Or, discard them, when
